An excellent well-rounded introduction to the field of linguistics. The students gets to learn about language in many facets, with a perfect mix of informational lectures, video discussions, and self-guided learning. Wonderful professor and great material!

Fantastic insight into the world of linguistics! Very high quality course. Professor van Oostendorp creates an atmosphere that makes learning fun. If you have an interest in evolution of languages and in etymology, this is the course you should take!

This is a well organised and comprehensive introduction to linguistics. I took this course wanting to find out whether I would enjoy studying linguistics formally, it has been incredibly useful in that regard. I would love to see this MOOC extended

Really Enjoyed the course, learned a bunch of new knowledge. I recommend this course to those who want take a quick review of linguistics and its sub-dicipilines. Thanks to prof. Osen and His students Inge and Martin for making this course for us.

Absolutely marvelous! The content is superb and I love the Professor's way of lecturing. I've gained much knowledge on linguistics through learning this course. The module tests will surely be an incentive for you to revise the lessons carefully!

I really liked the enthusiasm of the professor and Inge and Martin. The complementary interviews were also very interesting. As a post-journalism (and post-premaster) student, it was definitely beneficial for my sociolinguistic master program.

This has been one of my favorite MOOCs. It is a bit harder than the average MOOC, but it's really worth the effort. Brilliant insights, thought-provoking concepts and a very friendly dynamic makes this course worth every minute spent on it.

It extended my horizon and I gained so much insight into languages. I highly recommend you taking up this course. They also interview other linguists who are experts in their field every week. The professors' enthusiasm motivates you a lot.

Great course! The professor is enthusiastic and very clear in his presentation, and they present the material in digestible, clear language. The course also did a good job prioritizing what to include in a short amount of videos. Thank you!

In spite of its name, this course serves much more than an introduction. It tackles the essential aspects of linguistics and provides solid foundations for any language enthusiast. A necessary course for anyone serious about linguistics.

Very informative course and a perfect introduction to linguitics. A bit difficult at times (sociolinguistics is not my forte, I suppose), but again - why study something too easy? :) I'd love to see more content, perhaps another course?

It was a great course. Professor Oostendorp was very very informative, so were his assistants.

I learned a lot of interesting things. The tests were slightly more challenging than I expected, but that makes the achievement even better!

It's a pretty nice course. I think is a really good way to learn something about linguistic for people who do not know a lot and is a good way of keeping practice for the ones that in some way have already acquire knowledge about it.

Wonderfully made, gives you a strong basis on the subject, accessible to those with little to no background . The videos are interesting and clear, and examples are given from a variety of languages, and the course is very enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this course. The information was clearly explained and I was able to review any material that I found difficult. The tests helped to embed knowledge and it was interesting reading other points of view on the forums.

Great use of interviews of professors around the world with different backgrounds and studies, it shows how linguistics is applied. Clear examples used by informants, although I wish there were subtitles available for those videos.

Not only was it a fascinating and intriguing journey into linguistics, it was so fun. I felt like I knew these people and they were actually my professors. It is strange to say it but I will miss them now that the course is over.

A lot of materials are accessible in the course. It is obvious that professors have done a lot of preparation, so that the learning experience is really amazing. The course arises my interest for Linguistics. Highly recommended.

The best part of this course was the introduction of many useful resources: World Atlas of Language Structures, Ethnologue, Babel Magazine, etc. The lecturer and his assisting students are entertaining and easy to understand.

A really excellent introduction to many aspects of linguistics (from the sound to the social level):

Kudos to the wonderful Marc van Oostendorp and his team!

But, beware dear reader: Some of the quizzes are really "tricky" :-)

This is my very first course in coursera and on linguistics and it won't be my last. This was very informative, with relevant examples and well developed videos. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in linguistics.

The perfect course to get into the fascinating world of languages. The content is precise and helpful, and the instructor very knowledgeable and charismatic. A must try for anyone interested in the field of Linguistics.

With interests in exploring knowledge about languages, this course is indeed fantastic introduction which not only tells about a systematic way to analyze languages, but also trigger my passion to know more and deeper!

Very enjoyable course, at a good level for beginners but with enough content to hook your interest. Only thing to note is that some weeks are quite a lot more work than others which can make it difficult to schedule.

Extremely informative course and well organized. I had a lot of fun learning and doing the assignments, especially the honors ones. I would definitely recommend it to anybody interested in languages and linguistics.